Here are some times when I have listened to SebastiAn. They are fairly random.

1. Mowing the lawn back in 2007 when I first discovered the Ross Ross Ross EP. He made some of the only music that had dynamics mad enough to be heard through my headphones over the lawnmower’s engine.
2. Waiting anxiously for the Daft Punk Alive 2007 show to begin. He opened alongside Kavinsky. It was a great set, but a great set doesn’t really compete when the GREATEST SHOW IN THE WORLD is coming on in a couple hours (and after Ratatat, who also opened the show.)
3. Walking  around Vienna this summer. His new album came out with relatively little hype (then again, I had relatively little computer access this summer), and I remember being surprised when it showed up in my feeds. It’s a good album. Will totally blow out your eardrums if you let it.

Really hope I can catch his set at Coachella this year. I feel like I might have caught a bit of him at Coachella before, maybe during an Ed Rec block of time in the Sahara, who knows…

this girl definitely looks like Skrillex

I deplore Skrillex and the music he makes. I cringe when people say things like, “I love dubstep! Have you heard of Skrillex?” Sure, you could make the argument that (like Deadmau5) he’s bringing people to electronic music that otherwise would have kept listening to Kings of Leon and Jack Johnson. Right. Because those are the kind of people I want at a Chemical Brothers or Aphex Twin show.

Tumblr is a wonderful thing. It gives us gems like this.

(via the infamous Coachella Forum)

I’ve watched this trailer for Hanna probably ten times over the past few months, and I think the movie looks like it’s going to kick ass. At about 1:30 into the trailer, this song kicks in, and in the credits it says that the score is by The Chemical Brothers. Oh yes.

Well, now we have the full song that’s used in the trailer. It’s called Container Park, and it is indeed a Chem’s original.

Boys Noize's "1010/Yeah" cover art

This track by Boys Noize was released along with the track “Yeah” as the 50th release of Boysnoize Records a few months ago. Things I love about this track / single:

1. “1010″ is some awesome acid-house and stark but fitting contrast to the electro-house Boys Noize has been putting out.
2. Both tracks show why Boys Noize stands out as a savior amongst the shit “bro-step” artists flooding the electronic music charts right now.
3. The EP is exactly the length of time it takes me to bike from class back to my apartment.

In other news, I’m bringing back my Coachella Preview articles this year. Thanks to Kings of Leon, I think I’ll actually be able to see Boys Noize again this year!

Skream's debut album Skream! cover

La Roux’s debut album is a perfect example of a sleeper hit. It was released over a year ago, but only recently did the song “Bulletproof” get any serious air play. It’s a perfectly-paced record, that puts singer Eleanor Kate Jackson’s voice on top of bouncy electropop beats.

Producer Skream makes the kind of dubstep that proves that the genre deserves some credence. His music seats itself in the fog of night dripping in reverb,  and it stays far away from the strain of dubstep regurgitated over and over by producers like Rusko.

This new song from Skream is his second piece that involves La Roux, the first being a remix he did of the band’s first single: In For The Kill. Both songs are amazing, so take a listen.

A Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo helmet to be exact. This video made my day, and I love that DIY projects like this exist.

I think that I heard, back around the time of the Alive 2007 tour, that the real helmets cost thousands of dollars to make. Check the link below for a more detailed explanation of how this was done.

Daft Punk: FINAL! -Volpin Props

The Field: Axel Willner

The Field

the field opened, if you consider the field an “opener”

minimal, but not really, comment from amg review

Willner’s productions are as minimal techno as early-’90s Field precursors Seefeel were minimal rock; they’re not the least bit minimal, at least not sonically, and his approach to techno continues to sound like that of a dream pop/shoegaze freak

four man band, bass/drums, really only needed two people though

about five songs, more from new album (two old, three new)

when the song I love kicks in, it’s amazing, rave-like (ie. over the ice)

people need to calm down when listening to it, you can dance, but please stop spazzing out

rothko is to the field as …. is to …..

John Maclean & Nancy Whang (of LCD Soundsystem)

The Juan MacLean

amazing, FAR surpassed my expectations

quintessential DFA sound.

four piece, everyone actually doing band stuff

theremin on stage, used to good effect and with real skill

nancy whang is DFA’s Alison Mosshart

played a good mix of new and old songs (I’ll admit I haven’t listened to the new album that much)

great groove “happy house” stretched to about twenty minutes long (from it’s typical twelve), rises and falls, tempo changes, as good of pacing as Daft Punk’s live show, really put the show over-the-top

did I mention there was a theremin?

justice and the sweet atmosphere that accompanies the show

Who puts out a live CD/DVD combo when they’ve only released one LP and a couple EPs? I mean, it’s not like a headlining electronic act could build an entire show off of one album… Unless of course, it’s Justice we’re talking about.

Instead of going over the history of Justice, which you probably already know, let’s jump right into the track-by-track (I’ve combined some tracks that are split into two on the CD).

1. Intro (?/5) – Like listening to people screaming in anticipation? Then put this track on repeat for a few hours. I can’t really rate it because it’s just an intro track.
2. Genesis (4/5) – Those horns… There might not be a better way to begin the live show. They’re mean, ugly, and they perfectly symbolize what Justice has done to dance music. As much as the Intro track is a welcoming to the live show when siting on your couch, Genesis is the intro to the live show when you’re on your feet and the lights just went out. It does it’s job well, but it suffer from a problem that runs through the entire show: Justice can’t find a groove to let people dance to (I’ll elaborate later).
3. Phantom Part I & I.5 (4/5) – Genesis dies out, and that infamous synth line comes in. Right from the get-go, Justice is chopping the track up with the “boom-kat-boom-kat” drums that are featured in all their songs. Part I is a straightforward Phantom Pt I, and Part I.5 is more Phantom Pt I as an segway to D.A.N.C.E. It jumps back and forth between Phantom and a spacy kinda-arped synth; it serves as a way to slow the show down a bit.
4. D.A.N.C.E. Part I & II (4/5) – Beginning with the acapella vocals, D.A.N.C.E. Part I leaves behind the funky groove that usually accompanies these vocals (a piano does eventually join in). No problem, acapella basically means sing-a-long to the audience, and it works pretty well seeing as everyone knows the lyrics. Part I ends by speeding up and giving into the faster, more eletro-oriented Part II. I have no idea what hardware Justice uses to get these unbelievable synths, but the one that comes with Part II is brand new and amazing. It really carries Part II through it’s 3 minute extension of Part I. These two parts of D.A.N.C.E. are perfect evidence of why Justice has been able to turn a 40 minute LP into an hour and a half live show.
5. DVNO (4/5) – Losing no momentum, DVNO comes in with the same synth that went with D.A.N.C.E. Part II. I hated this song on the album at first, but the radio edit and this live version have converted me. The vocals aren’t sluggish and abrasive anymore, they’re smooth and provide another sing-a-long. This track undergoes it’s fair share of chopping and splicing (thanks to Ableton Live, I believe).
6. Waters of Nazareth (Prelude) (3/5) – This track serves as a quasi-extension to keep the audience interested without becoming fatigued. It isn’t really Waters of Nazareth, but some small parts of the song are mixed in. There are some vocals included I don’t recognize, but they aren’t a big part of the song. It’s only a two minute segway, and 15 seconds of it are the break down that lead into One Minute to Midnight.
7. One Minute to Midnight (3/5) – One of the most interesting tracks on the LP to me. It didn’t receive much attention, but it’s cool in a different way than the rest of the songs. Unfortunately, it’s also used as a semi-segway to the next song in the live show.
8. Tthhee Ppaarrttyy (0/5) – Call me a hater, but this track should never have been included on the album. Just because Uffie is a label-mate of Justice doesn’t mean that she’s necessary. Luckily for Justice, there are a TON of people who do love this song. The crowd roars throughout the whole thing.
9. Let There Be Light (5/5) – The name of this track couldn’t be more appropriate here. It begins at a snails pace and builds to its true tempo of over 120 bpm. This song and the synths that come along with it seem to want to rip each other to shreds from start to finish. There are high-pitched repeated screaming sounds contrasted against a super-low grinding bass that somehow come together with the same drums that are in all the songs. I guess to showcase some of their remixes, Justice also includes a small sample from their remix of Scenario Dance’s Skitzo Dancer. You know, the one where it says “disco” over and over and over.
10. Stress (4/5) – Some reviews call this the highlight of the show. I disagree. While this “Auto Remix” of Stress is quite a feat in how much it differs from the original while still maintaining it’s tones (of stress), it doesn’t ever really go anywhere. It builds, and builds, and builds, but when the drums hit, they just seem awkward and don’t reach that climax that electronic tracks are meant to. The bouncing strings are awesome, but again, they don’t go anywhere. At the end of the song, the bass line from We Are Your Friends comes in.
11. We Are Your Friends (Reprise) (5/5) – If I called D.A.N.C.E. and DVNO sing-a-longs, they are nothing compared to We Are Your Friends. As Justice’s first single as a remix of Simian’s Never Be Alone, it’s what begun the never-ending hype that surrounds Justice. Instead of playing the vocals in their entirety, Justice just plays the first word of each line and lets the audience finish it. The gimmick works, and the live recording captures the beck-and-call perfectly. In my opinion, this is Justice’s happiest song. It’s dead simple in its construction, and the distortion and grit that is in the rest of their songs is no where to be found (except when they go into the Metallica song…)
12. Waters of Nazareth (5/5) – This is the real Waters of Nazareth. While We Are Your Friends is Justice’s happiest track, this is without a doubt their angriest. It’s the first Justice song I ever heard, and at the time it convinced me that Justice was an industrial-dance duo. Justice has turned the public’s perception of electronic music on its head. No longer do you have to be in a club listening to “unst-unst-unst” bobbing our head all night. Now you can be at a street festival with thousands of people doing some amalgamation of dancing, jumping, and moshing. Justice might be a fad (it’s seeming less and less likely though), but the closest thing I can compare them to is The Prodigy.
13. Phantom Pt II (5/5) – Forget Stress, Phantom Pt II is the real climax of this album and of the live show. It’s what everyone has wanted to hear all night, and when it comes up to speed, everyone basically goes apeshitcrazy. This version of the song is a mix of the original, the Soulwax remix, and I believe the Boys Noize remix. It’s as close to perfect as you can get. It would be perfect if it didn’t have that damn lady talking in random spots. Forgetting the lady, I love this song. I’ve listened to it way too many times. It brings be back to when I saw Justice at Street Scene earlier this year in the same way that the Encore song from Daft Punk’s Alive 2008 album brings me back to when I saw them last year.
14. Encore We Are Your Friends (Piano) – It’s a short song that brings in the encore. Nothing special.
15. NY Excuse – Honestly, I don’t really like this song. It’s really interesting, but I think it takes too long to get where it wants to go, and when it gets there, it sounds like it’s trying to be We Are Your Friends + Justice distortion, but it falls short (run-on sentence, I know).
16. Final Metalica – Bringing Metallica to an electro show is pretty much what Justice is about. It’s a good final song. They pump up the 4/4 beats and speed it up; it closes the show nicely.

Overall, I think I’d give the album a 4/5. That last point is lost to the fact that Gaspard and Xavier don’t frequent dance floors. Only in Phantom Part II does the live show give the audience a groove to dance to. In other places it tries, but the songs are cut short by breakdowns or transitions that leave the beat out. To bring up the Daft Punk comparison, I feel that this was something that Daft Punk did flawlessly. They know how an audience reacts to certain songs. They understand that fatigue sets in when you leave the energy too high too long. I hope that Justice can learn these things over time and improve their sets accordingly.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0z8UFySprzM

part of the cover art for feed the animals

This whole “give music away for free” distribution method is really catching on! Next up: Girl Talk’s Feed the Animals. After mentioning the album multiple times in recent interviews, Gregg Gillis has finally released the latest Girl Talk album, and it definitely carries on right where Night Rippers left off.

For those who are new to Girl Talk, the music is best described as a mashup of many other songs that combine to create entirely new songs. Essentially Gillis takes 10-20 samples from old and new songs, arranges and layers them ontop of one another, and spits out some genius concoction that is Girl Talk. His ability to take music from nearly every genre and weave them together so flawlessly is amazing.

Getting back to Feed the Animals, please take a look at the album’s Wikipedia page. Scroll down to the tracklist and be blown away at how many songs were sampled from to make this record. In a single song, Gillis takes from Kraftwerk, Genesis, Michael Jackson, The Velvet Underground, and Justin Timberlake.

One thing that I’ve noticed from Night Rippers and Feed the Animals (not so much with Secret Diary or Unstoppable) is that the songs blend into each other, and each song isn’t extremely separate from the songs adjacent to it. I think this is due to the massive number of samples used and the quick twists and turns taken in each song. Don’t get me wrong, I still love both of the two latest albums, but they play as an hour long mashup instead of individual song arranged to fit together.

Many of the songs are constructed through trios of samples layering one songs beats, another’s instruments, and yet another’s vocals. Here are a few of my favorite trios from the album:

• BLACKstreet, Kanye West, and Radiohead
• Busta Rhymes, The Police, The Cure
• Timbaland, Stardust, Yo Majesty
• Salt ‘n Pepa, Deelite, Nirvana
• Fergie, Kraftwerk, Earth Wind & Fire

So all-in-all, I love this album. It’s a great piece to put on with headphones and just test your music knowledge skills to see exactly how many songs you can recognize (more points for beats than vocals). While I know that most music that is good takes some time to create, I really am blown away at how well all of these samples mix together.

I believe that this whole ordeal earned a bit of back-story, so here goes. Back way before February, I bought tickets to a tiny Hot Chip show at the El Rey. It was one of two shows that they were going to be doing in the states, and the other was out in New York. I was so pumped, but the day of the show, it was cancelled due to an illness in the band. After a few weeks, the Goldenvoice email went out announcing a makeup date at the Mayan in APRIL. Talk about a long wait.

Free Blood

So the end of April rolled around, Coachella happened, and I was ready for another dose of Hot Chip (my first dose away from a festival setting). Opening the night was a New York duo called Free Blood. I’d never heard of them before, but I really enjoyed their set. Their sound consisted of pre-recorded tribal/heavy/electronic beats with the guy playing bass and singing along with the girl. While it was a high energy show for a lesser-known opener, one thing that I was impressed by was the fact that they timed their set perfectly. It’s always nice when openers have figured out the right time where you’re enjoying what you’re hearing and you’re not tired of it yet, but you will be in about two songs. They stopped before the two songs. Good set all around.

Hot Chip

I guess I should start the Hot Chip portion of this by saying that seeing Hot Chip in a hot, sweaty, packed Coachella tent is a far different experience from seeing them at a nice LA venue. To be completely honest, I prefer the Coachella environment. It’s something about everyone being packed together and completely in love with what they are experiencing at Coachella that makes it that much better. Then again, seeing Hot Chip at the Mayan was great because of the much longer set time, and it’s just a more intimate setting.

Look down at the set list, it pretty much sums up the fact that their latest album Made In The Dark is amazing live. So many of the songs translate perfectly to Hot Chip’s live performance which is pretty far removed from the sound of their records. The live show is so high energy that it’s hard to recognize that the live songs are the same ones on the albums.

My personal favorites when performed live are “Boy From School”, “Out at the Pictures”, “Shake a Fist”, and (of course) “Over & Over”. There’s something to be said about a band that can recreate the sound of their songs so that they flow together but stay distinct when played live. Hot Chip has perfected this art. 

As I said before, this show was the replacement show for what should have been their first stop in the US back in February, and they acknowledged the fact by saying that they would play their asses off. Honestly, I think they put more effort into the Coachella show. Maybe the shorter set time puts pressure on bands to filer out any sort of filler, but it just had more energy in the air than the Mayan show.

Set List

1. Shake a Fist
2. Boy from School
3. Hold On
4. Bendable Poseable
5. Touch Too Much
6. Over & Over
7. Out at the Pictures
8. Wrestlers
9. Crap Kraft Dinner
10. One Pure Thought
11. Ready for the Floor
12. Made in the Dark
13. (encore) Don’t Dance
14. No Fit State / Nothing Compares to You
15. Privacy of Our Love

The three photos below are from riotphotography on flickr.

This post is a celebration of electronic music and the city of Los Angeles, or maybe just of music in general. Regardless, MSTRKRFT’s show last night at the El Rey Theatre was insane. Being the second sold-out show of MSTRKRFT’s two night stand in LA, it was obvious that the packed (and tiny) venue was full of people who share a love of hard-hitting electronic music.

Speaking quickly on the El Rey, this was my first time see a show there. I was supposed to see Hot Chip there about three weeks ago, but a sick band member postponed the show until April 28th (the day after Coachella). After looking at pictures online, it was obvious that the El Rey was pretty small, but catered perfectly to the pit people as well as the I-wanna-sit-down-and-just-listen people. Comparing, I’d say it’s a bit more than half of the size of SOMA in San Diego. So there’s my bit about the El Rey, and I will definitely be back soon.

So after my most sketch bus ride yet and arriving a half an hour before door time, we were finally let into the venue with LA Riots already spinning. I find it pretty interesting how venues ramp up the volume as the night goes on. Is it for the benefit of our ears, or because they want the headliners to hit that much harder? Anyways, I didn’t really dig LA Riots’ set. I love their online mixtapes, but this set wasn’t anything like that. I consisted of a lot of tech-house, and only in the last 10-15 minutes did they throw in one or two of their original remixes or any contemporary stuff. Also, why did only one half of the duo do any spinning? Eh.

After LA Riots was finished (around 9), Z-Trip immediately stepped up to the tables on the opposite side of the stage (a definite perk of electronic music is the lack of downtime). Opening with Justice’s Genesis probably isn’t the best way for a hip-hop DJ to introduce himself to house crowd, but it at least got us excited. Unfortunately, his set didn’t continue is that direction. Z-Trip is known as a pioneer of mashups, and it showed. He is a talented DJ/turntablist, and does far more than mix individual tracks together. While I wasn’t completely into his entire set, credit must be given for his deft ability to blend Johnny Cash, Guns ‘n Roses, Rage Against the Machine, Justice, the Beastie Boys, and Pink Floyd into one set.

So about half way through is 90 minute set, Z-Trip told us that he was trying out some stuff with drums included in the show, and a drummer came out and began to play along with Z-Trip spinning on the decks. It took a bit of getting in to, but eventually the mix got into the crowd. The sound of live drums layered against a DJ’s scratching was fairly inventive, but it got really interesting when Z-Trip stepped away from the deck to play along with the drummer. It was just a crazy show of two guys banging on a single drum set and simultaneously switching positions (standing/sitting) while playing nonstop. After this, Z-Trip stepped back up and spun for about 15 more minutes before putting together a nice short speech about how hip-hop DJs and electro/house DJs touring together is a good thing for music. It was more a little announcement about appreciation of music in all of its forms. Thumbs up.

Onto the show we were all waiting for: MSTRKRFT. If you look down to the bottom of this post, you will see a few images, check out the one of the crowd. That’s the Coachella 2007 crowd for MSTRKRFT’s set, and I was in that crowd for about 10 minutes until I (foolishly) got bored of the end of DJ Heather’s set mistaking it for MSTRKRFT. While I was walking away, Easy Love started, and I felt my stomach drop. I was already a ways away, so I kept walking. I vowed not to make that mistake again.

After the massive hockey mask was unveiled against the back wall, the music started. The great “thump” that MSTRKRFT is known for played throughout the entire set, save for the buildups and breakdowns of course. Getting off to a solid start, they threw in VUVUVU right off the bat, and while the song kills, I don’t get why it would be a huge MIDI problem (as AL-P has said), unless the tempo was difficult to keep steady. Continuing on, the set was solid, and it was apparent that they can control a crowd almost as well as Daft Punk can; mixing the big hits with some newer (read: nonpopular) material is something they do well.

After throwing down a great set consisting of the Bloody Beatroots, Daft Punk, the Chemical Brothers, Stardust, and some original material,  the part of the show that I had been praying for finally arrived. This section of the set consisted of D.A.N.C.E (MSTRKRFT Remix), Wow (MSTRKRFT Remix), and I believe that Paris was played here as well. Justice’s D.A.N.C.E. was 2007′s club hit that went mainstream, and MSTRKRFT’s remix of it is by far my favorite remix (out of the 27193 remixes that are floating around the blogs). So that knocked it out of the park. Then Wow was played, which is yet again, another MSTRKRFT remix fav. Kylie Minogue’s original song is alright, but I don’t think it’s anything special. This remix is a perfect example of what Kylie+MSTRKRFT equals. This part of the set is what put the show over the top for me.

After announceing that they would be heading over to LAX after the show because they were getting kicked out of the El Rey, they ended with Daft Punk’s One More Time as followed by Justice’s Phantom Pt. II (Soulwax Remix). It was a great finale, and I left satisfied. If you need an example of what this duo does to a crowd (and you haven’t followed my directions from above), click on the Coachella 2007 crowd, it’s one of my favorite Coachella pictures.

So what did I say last year about Justice?

Anyone up for a French house DJ duo? No, I’m not talking about Daft Punk; I’m talking about Justice. Of the entire artist lineup being pushed by Ed Banger Records right now, Justice is getting the best and most press attention (guess I’m feeding the flame.) Gaspard Augé and Xavier de Rosnay are the current heroes of French house music.

Back to now: all of the above is still true (and more). These two are still the kings of electro, but they are anything but alone in the genre. This past year we have seen DJs like Boys Noize, Para One (and the rest of the Institubes crew), SebastiAn & Kavinsky (and the Ed Banger crew) all tour nonstop and put out some great remixes. Justice is no longer the unique sounding duo that they were last year, but the release of their debut LP Cross has kept them on top.

Instead of relying on the distorted electro sound that brought them up, Justice has become a genre-crossing mix of disco, electro, pop, and rock. The worldwide phenomenon of electro has contributors popping up all over the globe, and the backlash has been just as great as the support.

This year at Coachella, look forward to a brand new live show (remember last year? they played Cross in its entirety)… Busy P sounds pretty pumped for these guys, and I will not be missing them this year (unless they are pitted against Roger Waters).

Justice Music Videos / Live Stuff

• DVNO
• D.A.N.C.E
• We Are Your Friends (Justice vs. Simian)
• Waters of Nazareth Official Release Party
• D.A.N.C.E. Live on Jimmy Kimmel

Because it was one of the museum’s First Fridays events, the night started with a presentation on the topic of elephant communication. Apparently, elephants have huge brains and are considered extremely intelligent mammals. They communicate not only through vocalizations, but also through vibrations transfered from the ground through their feet similar to how some insects do.

It was sometime during this presentation that I realized that this is how the government should fix the declining education levels in the US: have cheap concerts with up-and-coming indie artists at museums, and require kids to come to the museum an hour early to attend a session like this to get tickets. I really think that most people have a genuine interest in learning, but that school is so boring that learning is associated with a unidirectional lecture (and resultant sleep). But back to the music…

A-Trak came out around 8 and spun some hip hop while flaunting his amazing mixing skills here and there. For those who don’t know, A-Trak is Kanye West’s DJ, he won the DMC World DJ Championship in 1997 at the age of 15 (youngest ever & first Canadian), and he owns Fool’s Gold Records. While his first set was great, it was coming out of some crap speakers, which put a damper on things at first. After standing in front of those speakers (in the front row), my ears were kinda shot, so it didn’t really matter.

• A-Trak cutting up Justin Timberlake’s “My Love” in Vancuver

At around 8:40, Kid Sister came out and put on a great set. She did every song of hers that I know and more. Her songs are so perfect to sing along with because of the simplicity of the hook. After about a half hour set that consisted of Control, Damn Girl, Pro Nail, Beeper, Telephone and others, she finished with Switch Board. It’s neither here nor there, but during Control, she came off the stage, and I happened to hold her hand for a few seconds… That’s how you get fans.

• Kid Sister with “Damn Girl” & “Beeper” in Montreal

After Kid Sis finished up, A-Trak kept the energy up with some great electro that included stuff by Simian Mobile Disco, The Prodigy, Justice, SebastiAn, Spank Rock, and some of his own remixes of Digitalism and Kanye West. He progressed back down into more hip hop, and ended on a solid note. I think of the DJ sets I’ve been to, I’d most liken A-Trak to Flosstradamous. Both spin electro and hip hop superbly.

It was a great night. While I paid a whopping $6.50 for my tickets, it turned out that USC students get into the museums for free, so a friend here paid nothing (I ordered mine early). It was a bargain either way.

Beginning, please find me another electro album that opens with a punk song better than this. You can’t. I say that because track #1, Refused’s “New Noise”, is and has been for quite some time my favorite punk song ever, and because I’ve never heard electro records open with anything but electro. That being said, this is an “indie/electro” album Aoki quickly on to Erol Alkan’s “Durrr Durr Durrrrrr” edit of Justice’s “Waters of Nazareth”.

About half way through track #2 comes the portion of the album that sets it apart from other mixtapes: the guest drops. While other mixes might throw in some creative fading or original remixes by the DJ at hand, Aoki has been able to get some of the biggest up-and-comers (as well as established individuals) to rhyme on top of the songs in the mix. The artists with guest drops on 14 of the 17 tracks include Spank Rock, Amanda Blank, Santogold, Kid Sister, Har Mar Superstar, Uffie, Pase Rock, Mickey Avalon, Todd Fink of The Faint, and Steve Bays of Hot Hot Heat. As Steve has put it, “so when you listen to it, it’s like a party with all these different people.”

As for the progression of the album, the mixing of the tracks isn’t anything special. That being said, the song selection is spot on. One point that Aoki made in an interview was that while there are various talents that DJs can bring to the table, “at the end of the day, it’s the songs you want to hear… the most important part of DJing is selecting records.” Well said sir. The mood or tone of the mix fluctuates throughout, making for a solid hour of indie/electro that flows very well. Of the various remixes to be found in the mix, MSTRKRFT shows face a couple times just as Erol Alkan does. Weird Science, the production team made up of Aoki and partner-in-crime Blake Miller also pops up nicely remixing Peaches’ “Boys Wanna Be Her” and Bloc Party’s “Helicopter”.

All in all, Steve Aoki and friends have made a mix album that certainly rises above the ranks of bootleg live sets. Through the many guest drop contributions and Aoki’s unearthly ability to gauge when to drop the heavy hitters and when to pull back for a bit so that fatigue doesn’t set in, “Pillowface and His Airplane Chronicles” is a solid effort that succeeds as a standalone album to be played both in the clubs and in the privacy of your home.

Extra stuff on Steve Aoki:

• Pillowface Commercial
• SNMag TV Interview
• Steve Aoki’s MySpace
• Weird Science Production’s MySpace

Tracklist:

1. Refused: “New Noise”
2. Justice: “Waters of Nazareth (Erol Alkan Remix)” [ft. Pase Rock]
3. Does It Offend You, Yeah?: “We Are Rockstars” [ft. Naeem (MC Spank Rock)]
4. Services: “Element of Danger (MSTRKRFT Remix)” [ft. Har Mar Superstar]
5. Goose: “Bring It On” [ft. Todd from the Faint]
6. Larry Tee & Princess Superstar: “Licky (Herve Goes Low Remix) [ft. Santogold]
7. Green Velvet: “Shake and Pop” [ft. Kid Sister]
8. Klaxons: “Gravity’s Rainbow (Soulwax Remix)
9. The Mystery Jets: “The Boy Who Ran Away (Riton Re-Dub)
10. Peaches: “Boys Wanna Be Her (Weird Science Remix) [ft. Thunderheist]
11. Datarock: “Fa-Fa-Fa” [ft. Steve from Hot Hot Heat]
12. Yelle: “Je Veux Te Voir”
13. Franz Ferdinand: “Do You Want To (Erol Alkan’s Glam Racket Remix)” [ft. Amanda Blank]
14. Kim (from the Presets): “Wet N Wild” [ft. Mickey Avalon]
15. Bloc Party: “Helicopter (Weird Science Remix)”
16. Justice: “D.A.N.C.E. (MSTRKRFT Remix)”
17. Scanners: “Low Life (Teenagers Remix)” [ft. Uffie]

It’s quite good. DJ Alexander Rihda aka Boys Noize is making music very similar to SebastiAn and some of Justice’s earlier EP stuff. Possibly comparable to MSTRKRFT if they used more effects to rip apart their hard but pristine sound. This album Oi Oi Oi is similar in sound to his already released EPs. It’s a very hard, rough sound that is conveyed through the deep bass hits overlayed by heavily distorted synth riffs. There’s a bit of glitch thrown into the mix too. Look at the album cover (a disco skull), it exemplifies the sound perfectly.

The songs throughout the album start off great. The trouble that I have is that they all don’t amount to something. You can have a great intro with the bass dropped out and slam in with the effects and everything, but the song needs to go somewhere. I feel like trance has a good grasp of the rises and falls, but sometimes the majority of the time trance DJs overdo it (especially in long live sets). Songs like “Don’t Believe the Hype” and “Oh” are really great songs because they have the synths come and go with new elements being introduced through the songs. Songs like “Shine Shine” and “Vergiftet” just don’t cut it for me.

Overall, it’s a really good record, and the remixes that he’s done are amazing as well. Oi Oi Oi doesn’t really measure up to the likes of Ross Ross Ross from start to finish though.

cover art for what could be the year's best album: Kala

So now that you have all had access to get M.I.A.’s latest offering legally (although it seemed like the people at her concerts chose differently), here’s my take on it. After just one listen, anyone could recognize that it is very different from Arular. It’s not so much of an experimental electronic/hip-hop album as a more developed hip-hop album with electronic synths mixed with various beats. Where Arular was glitchy and pounding throughout, Kala is more calculated with its hits coming at more opportune times. The beats on Kala remain a mixture of drum machines and found objects being banged together, unique to say the least.

The songs that stand out the most to me are Bird Flu, Boyz, Jimmy, and Paper Planes. I understand that many people find Bird Flu to be annoying, but I firmly disagree. I don’t see how this song could stand out as annoying when compared to her other work. Boyz is just a great song with an infectious beat. Jimmy is a slower love song that doesn’t leave the M.I.A. style behind. And Paper Planes is both politically and stylistically powerful; definitely a step forward in my opinion. So that’s about it, I really do like Kala, just in a different way than I love Arular.

I almost feel bad writing this, almost sorry for you. But I also feel that I would be doing you a disservice by not letting you in on the most revolutionary concert I have ever been to. I can honestly say that the full 5 hours that I (and a friend) spent at the LA Sports Arena were well spent. Here is a rundown of the experience (because it was an experience).

We arrived at the arena at around 6:15 pm, and we were definitely surprized by the number of people who were already in line. It seemed like we had shown up for the wrong concert. There was only about 20 people in the Loge/Concourse line (our line) and probably about 40 in the Floor line (not our line). I know that the show didn’t start until 8, but I honestly thought that there would be way more people.

So we go in around 7 when the doors opened and got prime seats in the Loge section with barely anyone around us. We sat around ’till 9:15 when SebastiAn and Kavinsky started spinning. There was a fair amount of people inside now, but it was clear that most people weren’t too interested in the openers. I need to say that I love SebastiAn, and I am glad that they played more of his material than Kavinsky’s (not my favorite).

Oddly, I noticed that I actually recognized a fair ammount of the songs that were mixed between their two sets (it was a DJ set to open and fill time between Ratatat and Daft Punk). Here’s what I recognized:

• Justice – D.A.N.C.E., Waters of Nazareth (Justice Remix), Let There Be Light (DJ Funk’s Bounce Dat Ass Remix), Phantom Pt. II, and Genesis.
• Uffie – Ready To Uff
• The Prodigy – Smack My Bitch Up
• SebastiAn – RossRossRoss, Head/Off, Walkman, Killing In The Name (SebastiAn Remix), Greel
• Kavinsky – (I don’t know the song, but it was obviously his, he has a distinct style)
• Busy P – Rainbow Man

Let me say that the music was up so loud that every one of SebastiAn’s songs hit like a knockout punch. His Killing In The Name remix was a song that my friend and I wanted to hear, and the crowd went insane when it was played near the end of the set (obviously Coachella kids in the crowd). Sadly, the remix ends before the “FUCK YOU, I WONT DO WHAT YOU TELL ME… MOTHERFUCKERRRRR!” part… I found the number of Justice songs being played to be kind of odd, but I love Justice, so it was welcome; I don’t have a problem with inter-label promotion at all.

On to the actual live performances. Ratatat obviously had less stage space than Daft did (that pyramid doesn’t appear out of thin air), but they don’t really need much of a stage. Their music is amazing at that high of a volume. The bass really hits and the guitars whine all night long. Their DVD playing behind them was kind of cool, but their music is so unique that it blows me away every time I hear it. Great set. SebastiAn and Kavinsky spun again, and our attention was split between the DJs and the flashing test lights emmitting from behind the huge curtain pulled around the pyramid.

Finally the lights went out and the place erupted. Daft Punk opened just as they did in Coachella two years ago with the “HHUUMMAANN RROOBBOOTT” slowly gaining pace to preface Robot Rock. Much of what they did was the same as their recent concerts pertaining to the progression of songs and eventual introduction to different uses for their lights.

The first major change came came at Around the World (Harder Better Faster Stronger Remix) when the first “around the world” came and the entire floor lit up with the lights that were placed encircling the entire arena! It was amazing how perfect it seemed. The lights seemed to be the same kind of lights they have as the grid on either side of the pyramid. Watch the video at the end of the post and you will see what I mean. They look white in the video, but the can do every color just as the grid can.

From there on, it was nonstop dancing and French Touch killing everyone’s preconceived notions about what a “show” should be. Because of the extended set time, Daft Punk played (what seemed to me to be, but wasn’t…) an extended version of Too Long. Maybe they didn’t, but I thought it was longer than the Coachella set (I have the full audio on my computer, it was normal). Oh yeah, there was one other reason why it was longer…

The encore. It was amazing. I didn’t think that there would be an encore, and boy was I wrong. For a while, it seemed pointless standing there shouting for what seemed forever, but when the lights never came on, it was apparent that something was going to happen. Eventually they came back on stage and played what people have said was a remix of Music Sound Better With You. Then the new suits came out. They were amazing, and so was the way that they presented them (with the red light leading up to them through the stage. That topped it all off. If there was a question that Daft Punk is the best, there is no such question anymore.

Please, everyone, if you get the chance to see Daft Punk, do not pass it up. It will be an event that you will never forget. Also, if you were there, or have anything to say, leave a comment!

Update: I added a few songs I remembered (re-recognized) were played during the SebastiAn/Kavinsky set.

In case you don’t get it (I don’t expect you to), the title is to be translated to be Daft Punk/SebastiAn/Kavinsky/Ratatat Concert. This is the concert a friend and I will be going to on July 21 in LA. Words cannot really express how excited I am about this.

I will start with Daft Punk. I really do love their music. As much as it pains me that they are very close to stealing material and slapping their name on it, I feel that they are innovative in their sampling ways and deserve as much praise as they get. They have succeeded at not disappearing as so many electronic fad artists do. Why? Because they are more than their music.

Daft Punk has become a level of quality in persona and live shows on top of their amazing music that other artists can only strive for. One of the big reasons that electronic music isn’t big in the States is because of the difficulties of putting together entertaining live sets with real visuals. Just watch a YouTube video of a recent Daft Punk concert and you will see that this isn’t a problem for them.

SebastiAn is my favorite electronic artist in terms of music right now. Everything of his, from his albums to his remixes, blows me away. Just read my latest assessment of the Ed Banger crew for more on SebastiAn.

Kavinsky is still a bit mysterious to me. He is the artist who’s music I have heard the least of. I have his two EPs but I don’t feel that they do him justice. His sound is a retro-house electro type thing. Old 80s synths are all over the place in his songs. I like it, but I hope there’s something more for me to grasp at the concert.

Ratatat is the ugly duckling of this group. Not because I don’t like them (I LOVE them) but because they actually play instruments. I’m really looking forward to hearing their very unique sound blasted at me through a huge sound system. To me, Ratatat is a sort of a Dueling Banjos funneled through the electronica scene with a drum machine thrown in for size. I have never heard anything like them, and I love it.

So there you have it, a short assessment of the artists I will see on Saturday, July 21, 2007 at about 9pm. Jealous?

the heavy hitters of the Ed Banger crew

There is no use in disputing the point: Ed Banger Records is the king of electro. EdRec’s superb lineup consists of (left to right in the picture) Feadz, SebastiAn, Vicarious Bliss, Uffie, Busy P, So Me, DJ Mehdi, and Justice (not pictured: Krazy Baldhead and Mr. Flash). As of now, I cannot say that there is a single artist that I dislike. Each artist has a unique sound that doesn’t attempt to mimic any other artist on the label (or any other artist in general). Enjoy! (Part 1 consists of Busy P, Feadz, Justice, Mr. Flash, and SebastiAn)

in alphabetical order… also, please click on the artist’s names to go to a HypeMachine search for their music…

Busy P: owner of Ed Banger Records

Busy P: How fitting he is the first on this list. Busy P, aka Pedro Winter, is a DJ/producer, manager of Daft Punk and Justice, and owner of Ed Rec. It is safe to assume that whatever Busy P touches turns, not to gold, but to platinum immediately. While I could speak on Daft Punk for pages (and I will in a coming post), Busy P’s music is more important right now. He sticks alongside what the label is known for: French electro house. It’s not as grimy or as disco as Justice, not as punch-you-in-the-face as SebastiAn, but the sound definitely holds its own against P’s label-mates.

Feadz: member of Ed Recs crew & boyfriend of Uffie

Feadz: Aside from being Uffie’s love interest, he is also her producer. The majority of his current material has been released through Uffie. Pre-Uffie, he worked with Mr. Oizo on Analog Worms Attack (a sweet album if I may say so). The beats he lays down for Uffie are characterized by their stuttered distorted nature. It sounds as if Feadz takes each and every sample and cuts/chops/pastes them into any mashup that resembles a semi-ordered form to create his music.

Justice: do you need an explanation? they're huge.

Justice: The constant praise coming from all sides about this DJ duo hasn’t seemed to slowed down since their first EP Waters of Nazareth was released a little over a year ago in June of 2006. They take whatever material they are given (or make up) and filter it to sound like heavy metal had a head on collision with disco funk. Like many of Ed Rec’s artists, Justice are amazing remix artists as well as superb at creating original material. Their recently released debut LP titled † is varied and remains true to Justice’s signature style resulting in an album that will stay in rotation for quite some time. Reading about Justice in popular magazines signifies that electronic music might be able to become mainstream once again.

Mr. Flash: member of Ed Recs

Mr. Flash: From what I’ve heard (which isn’t much), Mr. Flash mixes electro with tweaked hip hop and a tad of disco thrown in for flavor. The song Disco Dynamite which is featured on Ed Rec Vol. 2 is one of my favorite songs on the compilation album. He’s been producing music for TTC since about 1999, and had an mix-comp titled Monsieur Sexe come out in 2005. A slew of EPs and remixes have followed, but I haven’t been able to get my hands on much.

SebastiAn: amazing remixer

SebastiAn: My favorite artist on Ed Rec. His album RossRossRoss is something I put on only when I can’t be uninterrupted with the volume at max. He is probably the best remixer I have ever come across, and Daft Punk has said that his remix for Human After All was the best remix that they had ever commissioned. What he does to songs isn’t really fair. In terms of remixes, he makes the original artist sound like an amateur. In terms of his own music, it’s so aggressive that you might have to have stitches after listening to just one track. It’s glitchy, distorted, stuttered, and sounds like he took each sample and filtered out the highs and lows leaving the mids (and then ripped them to shreds). Please listen to anything of his.

There you have it, Part 1 of the two part series on Ed Banger Records.

So, this new video for Kanye West’s song “Stronger” has been talked about for a long time. It has a Daft Punk sample! It’s an expensive video! It’s off his new album! Directed by Hype Williams! Too bad the video amounts to some eye candy and a plot just as confusing as Justin Timerlake’s “SexyBack”… Putting Daft Punk in BOTH your song and video is quite a feat, but it won’t get you video of the year.

The video features some futuristic looking animation with Kanye being reborn by some kind of a Matrix-type machine. It looks cool, but it’s a bit literal of a translation of the song title. Like I said, Daft Punk is sweet anywhere they are placed. Kudos for that one. The sun(?)glasses are equally awsome; I wish I had some. Here is the part that frustrates me: the lack of continuity. There are some great scenes, but they don’t amount to anything. The video for “Jesus Walks” was amazing because it told a story (all three versions were powerful). I don’t feel that there is anything holding “Stronger” together.